CODESA Statement on Recently Unearthed Mass Grave near El-Ayoune Prison
03/12/2007 | Statements
Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA)
El-Aaiun/ Sahara Occidental
November 29th, 2007
Statement
Recently, there has been information about the unearthing of a mass grave, which was found accidentally by the Moroccan authorities near the Carcel Negra (the Black Prison) in El Aaiun, Western Sahara, on November 20th, 2007.
On Wednesday, November 28th, 2007, Moroccan T.V. channels RTM and 2M broadcast the information, and presented some old people to say that the graveyard goes back to the 1930s and the remaining bones are of their ancestors.
The Collective of the Saharawi Human Rights Defenders, CODESA, highlights the following observations:
• The process of extracting the remains of the deceased was not compatible with the normal legal processes, but came as a surprise because the Moroccan authorities had to cope with it while digging there for completely different purposes.
• The Moroccan authorities kept silent for about a week without mentioning the unearthing.
• They relied on the testimony of ordinary people in a matter that requires very precise and sophisticated scientific methods to know the truth.
Thus, we in CODESA question the conclusions that the Moroccan authorities are trying to market, after a complete secrecy of the issue for more than a week.
Believing that the collective grave is very likely to be related to the Sahrawi disappeared whose fate is still unknown, and who were victims of massive killing by the Moroccan regime in the Western Sahara during the 1970s and 1980s;
Taking into account the Sahrawi abducted who passed through the Carcel Negra during the years 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, of whom those who escaped death still confirm that many of them had lost their lives there;
Considering that the unveiling of the fate of all the Sahrawi disappeared and the opening of an investigation into the collective graves of the Sahrawi victims of deliberate violations of human rights, is the struggle of all defenders of human rights and democracy, we
1. Denounce the hastiness in pronouncing ready-made judgements on the identity and age of the remains of the dead Sahrawis found in the grave.
2. Call upon the Moroccan state to open a serious scientific investigation and publish a detailed report on the nature of this collective grave.
3. Call the Moroccan authorities to re-bury the remaining bones in a known graveyard after being sure of their identity.
El-Aaiun/ Sahara Occidental
November 29th, 2007
Statement
Recently, there has been information about the unearthing of a mass grave, which was found accidentally by the Moroccan authorities near the Carcel Negra (the Black Prison) in El Aaiun, Western Sahara, on November 20th, 2007.
On Wednesday, November 28th, 2007, Moroccan T.V. channels RTM and 2M broadcast the information, and presented some old people to say that the graveyard goes back to the 1930s and the remaining bones are of their ancestors.
The Collective of the Saharawi Human Rights Defenders, CODESA, highlights the following observations:
• The process of extracting the remains of the deceased was not compatible with the normal legal processes, but came as a surprise because the Moroccan authorities had to cope with it while digging there for completely different purposes.
• The Moroccan authorities kept silent for about a week without mentioning the unearthing.
• They relied on the testimony of ordinary people in a matter that requires very precise and sophisticated scientific methods to know the truth.
Thus, we in CODESA question the conclusions that the Moroccan authorities are trying to market, after a complete secrecy of the issue for more than a week.
Believing that the collective grave is very likely to be related to the Sahrawi disappeared whose fate is still unknown, and who were victims of massive killing by the Moroccan regime in the Western Sahara during the 1970s and 1980s;
Taking into account the Sahrawi abducted who passed through the Carcel Negra during the years 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, of whom those who escaped death still confirm that many of them had lost their lives there;
Considering that the unveiling of the fate of all the Sahrawi disappeared and the opening of an investigation into the collective graves of the Sahrawi victims of deliberate violations of human rights, is the struggle of all defenders of human rights and democracy, we
1. Denounce the hastiness in pronouncing ready-made judgements on the identity and age of the remains of the dead Sahrawis found in the grave.
2. Call upon the Moroccan state to open a serious scientific investigation and publish a detailed report on the nature of this collective grave.
3. Call the Moroccan authorities to re-bury the remaining bones in a known graveyard after being sure of their identity.
